Instrumented gait analysis: a measure of gait improvement by a wheeled walker in hospitalized geriatric patients

Background In an increasing aging society, reduced mobility is one of the most important factors limiting activities of daily living and overall quality of life. The ability to walk independently contributes to the mobility, but is increasingly restricted by numerous diseases that impair gait and balance. The aim of this cross-sectional observation study was to examine whether spatio-temporal gait parameters derived from mobile instrumented gait analysis can be used to measure the gait stabilizing effects of a wheeled walker (WW) and whether these gait parameters may serve as surrogate marker in hospitalized patients with multifactorial gait and balance impairment. Methods One hundred six patients (ages 68–95) wearing inertial sensor equipped shoes passed an instrumented walkway with and without gait support from a WW. The walkway assessed the risk of falling associated gait parameters velocity, swing time, stride length, stride time- and double support time variability. Inertial sensor-equipped shoes measured heel strike and toe off angles, and foot clearance. Results The use of a WW improved the risk of spatio-temporal parameters velocity, swing time, stride length and the sagittal plane associated parameters heel strike and toe off angles in all patients. First-time users (FTUs) showed similar gait parameter improvement patterns as frequent WW users (FUs). However, FUs with higher levels of gait impairment improved more in velocity, stride length and toe off angle compared to the FTUs. Conclusion The impact of a WW can be quantified objectively by instrumented gait assessment. Thus, objective gait parameters may serve as surrogate markers for the use of walking aids in patients with gait and balance impairments

The importance of understanding annual and shorter-term temperature patterns and variation in the surface levels of polar soils for terrestrial biota

Ground temperatures in the top few centimetres of the soil profile are key in many biological processes yet remain very poorly documented, especially in the polar regions or over longer timescales. They can vary greatly seasonally and at various spatial scales across the often highly complex and heterogeneous polar landscapes. It is challenging and often impossible to extrapolate soil profile temperatures from meteorological air temperature records. Furthermore, despite the justifiably considerable profile given to contemporary large-scale climate change trends, with the exception of some sites on Greenland, few biological microclimate datasets exist that are of sufficient duration to allow robust linkage and comparison with these large-scale trends. However, it is also clear that the responses of the soil-associated biota of the polar regions to projected climate change cannot be adequately understood without improved knowledge of how landscape heterogeneity affects ground and sub-surface biological microclimates, and of descriptions of these microclimates and their patterns and trends at biologically relevant physical and temporal scales. To stimulate research and discussion in this field, we provide an overview of multi-annual temperature records from 20 High Arctic (Svalbard) and maritime Antarctic (Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc) sites. We highlight important features in the datasets that are likely to have influence on biology in polar terrestrial ecosystems, including (a) summer ground and sub-surface temperatures vary much more than air temperatures; (b) winter ground temperatures are generally uncoupled from air temperatures; (c) the ground thawing period may be considerably shorter than that of positive air temperatures; (d) ground and air freeze–thaw patterns differ seasonally between Arctic and Antarctic; (e) rates of ground temperature change are generally low; (f) accumulated thermal sum in the ground usually greatly exceeds air cumulative degree days. The primary purpose of this article is to highlight the utility and biological relevance of such data, and to this end the full datasets are provided here to enable further analyses by the research community, and incorporation in future wider comparative studies

Evaluating the potential of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Oman using the MENA-CORDEX wind speed data simulations

202106 bcvcVersion of RecordSelf-fundedPublishe

Modeling of available soil phosphorus (ASP) using multi-objective group method of data handling

The accurate estimation of available soil phosphorus (ASP) is required for the effective management of environmental resources and improving agricultural productivity. Direct measurement of ASP at large scales is time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, many empirical models or pedotransfer functions (PTFs) have been developed to obtain ASP. This study introduces a new model that estimates ASP from easily measurable soil properties by using the multi-objective group method of data handling (mGMDH) approach. Organic carbon, clay content, calcium carbonate equivalent, pH and ASP were obtained from 100 soil samples, which were collected by the stratified random sampling strategy in Mashhad Plain, Khorasan-e-Razavi Province, Northeast Iran. The suggested model for the prediction of ASP generated satisfactory results in terms of the statistical performance criteria. The coefficient of determination (R2) and mean square error (MSE) values of the mGMDH model in training step were 0.606 and 4.9671 mg kg−1, respectively, whereas those were 0.504 and 5.6685 mg kg−1, in the testing step. It was concluded that only 50 % of variations of ASP could be described by selecting easy-to-measure soil variables and owing to the key role of phosphorus in soil fertility and precision agriculture, the other related factors such as terrain attributes and fertilizer management should also be considered as they influence the distribution of the soil phosphorus

Evaluation of time series models in simulating different monthly scales of drought index for improving their forecast accuracy

202212 bckwVersion of RecordPublishe

Groundwater level prediction in arid areas using wavelet analysis and gaussian process regression

202110 bcvcVersion of RecordPublishe

Circulatory System Based Optimization (CSBO) : an expert multilevel biologically inspired meta-heuristic algorithm

202309 bcvcVersion of RecordOthersNational Research Foundation of Korea; Korea government; Chung-Ang UniversityPublishe

An anatomical study of normal variations of circle of Willis in 132 fetus, newborn and adult

"n Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Background: Several studies have investigated the variations in the anatomy of each segment of circle of Willis whereas a few have addressed the variations of this arterial circle as a whole. In this study the entire circle of Willis and its variations were studied in a cohort of Iranian people and compared with previous reports."n"nMethods: Anatomical variations of the circle of Willis in 132 brains of Iranian cadavers (102 male adults and 30 fetuses and infants) were studied. The dissection process was digitally filmed for further studies. Using computer software the external diameters of the vessels were measured and the circle variations were classified. The variations of the circle as a whole and segmental variations were compared with previous studies. "n"nResults: Uni-and bilateral hypoplasia of posterior communicating arteries (PcoAs) constituted the most common variation in our study which was similar to previous works. Aplasia of the anterior cerebral artery (A1) and the posterior cerebral artery (P1) were not observed. In 3.3% of fetuses and infants and 3% of adult instances both right and left posterior communicating arteries were absent. There was one case of anterior communicating artery (AcoA) aplasia in adult group."n"nConclusions: The anatomical variations discovered in Iranian circle of Willis in this study were not significantly different to those of more diverse populations reported in the literature. The main differences between the fetal and adult disposition are the diameter of the PcoA and the circular part of the P1