A Reliable and Inexpensive Integration of Virtual Reality and Digital Human Modelling to Estimate Cervical Spine Function

Musculoskeletal disorders present one of the most prominent impact among the work-related diseases. Cervical spine is indeed one of the anatomical regions most affected by these issues; the main impairments concerning the cervical segment inherently limit its ranges of motion (ROMs). In the last years, novel technologies have been developed to support clinicians in assessing and quantifying these limitations, including wearable sensors and Virtual Reality (VR). In this perspective, interest in Digital Human Modeling has been also increasing due to the possibility of using it together with wearable technologies, thus to obtain enhanced information on body dynamics. This study aimed to validate a novel approach, which integrated VR technology and multi-body modelling to reliably estimated the ROMs of the cervical spine during the execution of three specific tasks (i.e. flexion-extension, lateral bending, axial rotation). Comparison with standard optoelectronic system reported strong correlation and good reliability, with an average difference in estimating ROMs of 8.0° and a mean RMSE of 4.7°. Furthermore, a preliminary test in managing different visual cues through VR highlighted interesting trends for future developments. The performed analysis supported the use of the proposed solution for both the clinical settings and telemedicine applications

The P2X7 receptor and intracellular pathogens: a continuing struggle

The purinergic receptor, P2X7, has recently emerged as an important component of the innate immune response against microbial infections. Ligation of P2X7 by ATP can stimulate inflammasome activation and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, but it can also lead directly to killing of intracellular pathogens in infected macrophages and epithelial cells. Thus, while some intracellular pathogens evade host defense responses by modulating with membrane trafficking or cell signaling in the infected cells, the host cells have also developed mechanisms for inhibiting infection. This review will focus on the effects of P2X7 on control of infection by intracellular pathogens, microbial virulence factors that interfere with P2X7 activity, and recent evidence linking polymorphisms in human P2X7 with susceptibility to infection