The Virtual-Spine Platform—Acquiring, visualizing, and analyzing individual sitting behavior

Back pain is a serious medical problem especially for those people sitting over long periods during their daily work. Here we present a system to help users monitoring and examining their sitting behavior. The Virtual-Spine Platform (VSP) is an integrated system consisting of a real-time body position monitoring module and a data visualization module to provide individualized, immediate, and accurate sitting behavior support. It provides a comprehensive spine movement analysis as well as accumulated data visualization to demonstrate behavior patterns within a certain period. The two modules are discussed in detail focusing on the design of the VSP system with adequate capacity for continuous monitoring and a web-based interactive data analysis method to visualize and compare the sitting behavior of different persons. The data was collected in an experiment with a small group of subjects. Using this method, the behavior of five subjects was evaluated over a working day, enabling inferences and suggestions for sitting improvements. The results from the accumulated data module were used to elucidate the basic function of body position recognition of the VSP. Finally, an expert user study was conducted to evaluate VSP and support future developments

Selectivity of hyaluronic acid binding for spermatozoa with normal Tygerberg strict morphology

During spermiogenesis, a plasma membrane remodelling step facilitates formation of sperm zona pellucida and hyaluronic acid (HA) binding sites. Enrichment of Tygerberg normal spermatozoa in HA-bound versus semen sperm fractions was postulated. Semen was placed on the uncoated A side and HA-coated B side of a semen chamber. After 15 min, the HA binding score (proportion of HA-bound motile spermatozoa) was assessed on the B side, and unbound spermatozoa were removed by gentle rinsing. Following Diff-Quick staining, sperm morphology of A and B sides was evaluated by three blinded investigators at Yale and Tygerberg. The proportion of Tygerberg normal spermatozoa was higher in HA-bound versus semen spermatozoa (n = 63 subjects) with a 3.04-fold improvement (95% confidence limits: 1.9-4.7) in 37 teratozoospermic men, comparable with a 4.2-fold enrichment in zona pellucida-bound spermatozoa reported earlier by the Tygerberg group. The morphology scores of three investigators were different but related, indicating that the variations reflect individual-to-individual differences in the perception of shape normality. The selection power of HA and zona pellucida for normal spermatozoa are similar. The sperm biomarkers of creatine phosphokinase (reflecting retained cytoplasm in arrested maturity spermatozoa) and chaperone protein HspA2 (heat shock protein) were proportional with sperm HA binding. As HA binding reflects sperm maturity and function, the combination of Tygerberg morphology and HA binding is likely to improve male infertility management. © 2009 Published by Reproductive Healthcare Ltd.Articl