Neural control of balance in increasingly difficult standing tasks

For almost 150 years, researchers have been intrigued by the complex neural control of standing balance. Despite accumulating evidence showing cortical involvement, much is yet to be learnt about the nuances of how the motor cortex (M1) tunes muscle activation in standing. This thesis examined the neural input to leg muscles in increasingly difficult standing tasks. It was found that the net output from M1 sets the activation of leg muscles and consequently influences postural sway. This net M1 output is determined by a combination of inhibitory and facilitatory processes which likely account for different aspects of postural control like cognitive influences, planning and preparation for perturbations. Additionally, examination of the synchronized output from the cortex to multiple muscles showed that the cortex favors reciprocal control, which is mechanically advantageous and also costs less energy. Also, such synchronized outputs are tailored to the biomechanical demands of each task. Finally, a preliminary examination of the factors contributing to individual differences in neural control of standing was conducted. Each individual’s intrinsic neural excitability (possibly driven by genetics or plasticity due to previous experiences) influenced how they controlled balance in the increasingly difficult tasks. Additionally, cortical excitability was associated with self-reported balance confidence and likely mediates the effect of this cognitive attribute on motor performance. In conclusion, the findings of this thesis suggest that the cortex plays a role in the higher order planning and processing required for determining muscle activation patterns and maintaining balance in standing

Task specificity and neural adaptations after balance learning in young adults

Background: Only 30 min of balance skill training can significantly improve behavioral and neuromuscular outcomes. However, it is unclear if such a rapidly acquired skill is also retained and transferred to other untrained balance tasks.Research question: What are the effects of a single balance training session on balance skill acquisition, retention, and transferability and on measures of neural plasticity examined by transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (TMS) and inter-muscular coherence?Methods: Healthy younger adults (n = 36, age 20.9, 18 M) were randomly assigned to: Balance training (BT); Active control (cycling training, CT) or non-active control (NC) and received a 20min intervention. Before, immediately and similar to 7 days after the interventions, we assessed performance in the trained wobble board task, untrained static standing tasks and dynamic beam walking balance tasks. Underlying neural plasticity was assessed by tibialis anterior motor evoked potential, intracortical facilitation, short-interval intracortical inhibition and long-interval intracortical inhibition using TMS and by inter-muscular coherence.Results: BT, but not CT (18%, d = 0.32) or NC (-1%, d = -0.02), improved balance performance in the trained, wobble board task by 207% (effect size d = 2.12). BT retained the acquired skill after a 1-week no-training period (136%, d = 1.57). No changes occurred in 4 measures of balance beam walking, in 8 measures of static balance, in 8 measures of intermuscular coherence, and in 4 TMS measures of supra-spinal plasticity (all p &gt; 0.05).Significance: Healthy young adults can learn a specific balance skill very rapidly but one should be aware that while such improvements were retained, the magnitude of transfer (32%, d = 0.94) to other balancing skills was statistically not significant. Additional studies are needed to determine the underlying neural mechanisms of rapid balance skill acquisition, retention, and transfer.</p

Study of multiplicity dependence of heavy flavor production in p-p collisions using rope hadronization mechanism

The multiplicity dependence of the production of the charm mesons in p$-$p collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV and 13 TeV as measured by ALICE experiment has been investigated using Pythia 8 event generator by studying the effect of various processes at partonic level such as the effect of different modes of color reconnections and rope hadronization. The relative yields ($\rm Yield/\langle Yield \rangle$) of D-mesons and $J/\psi$ as a function of relative charged particle multiplicity for various transverse momentum (p\textsubscript{T}) ranges as measured by the ALICE experiment are in reasonable agreement with the estimations of Pythia 8 model within the framework of microscopic processes. The relative yields of B mesons for various p\textsubscript{T} intervals ($1 < p_{T} < 20$ GeV/$c$) have also been predicted in p$-$p collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV and $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

Чинники ефективності антикризового управління суб'єктами господарювання в економіці України

У статті розглядаються проблеми формування підходів організації антикризового управління суб'єктами господарювання в економіці України. На ґрунті вітчизняного та зарубіжного досвіду й результатів власних досліджень автора запропоновано психологічний тип антикризового менеджера. (The article is devoted to the problems of forming of approaches of organization of anticrisis management by the subjects of menage in the economy of Ukraine. On the base of domestic and foreign experience and results of own researches of author the psychological type of anticrisis manager is offered.

As Standing Task Difficulty Increases, Corticospinal Excitability Increases in Proportion to COP velocity but M1 Excitability Changes are Participant-Specific:Corticospinal and M1 Excitability in Standing

Reductions in the base of support (BOS) make standing difficult and require adjustments in the neural control of sway. In healthy young adults, we determined the effects of reductions in mediolateral (ML) BOS on peroneus longus (PL) motor evoked potential (MEP), intracortical facilitation (ICF), short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and long interval intracortical inhibition (LICI) using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). We also examined whether participant-specific neural excitability influences the responses to increasing standing difficulty. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that with increasing standing difficulty MEP size increased, SICI decreased (both p < 0.05) and ICF trended to decrease (p = 0.07). LICI decreased only in a sub-set of participants, demonstrating atypical facilitation. Spearman’s Rank Correlation showed a relationship of ρ = 0.50 (p = 0.001) between MEP size and ML center of pressure (COP) velocity. Measures of M1 excitability did not correlate with COP velocity. LICI and ICF measured in the control task correlated with changes in LICI and ICF, i.e., the magnitude of response to increasing standing difficulty. Therefore, corticospinal excitability as measured by MEP size contributes to ML sway control while cortical facilitation and inhibition are likely involved in other aspects of sway control while standing. Additionally, neural excitability in standing is determined by an interaction between task difficulty and participant-specific neural excitabilit

tDCS induced GABA change is associated with the simulated electric field in M1, an effect mediated by grey matter volume in the MRS voxel

Background and objective Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has wide ranging applications in neuro-behavioural and physiological research, and in neurological rehabilitation. However, it is currently limited by substantial inter-subject variability in responses, which may be explained, at least in part, by anatomical differences that lead to variability in the electric field (E-field) induced in the cortex. Here, we tested whether the variability in the E-field in the stimulated cortex during anodal tDCS, estimated using computational simulations, explains the variability in tDCS induced changes in GABA, a neurophysiological marker of stimulation effect. Methods Data from five previously conducted MRS studies were combined. The anode was placed over the left primary motor cortex (M1, 3 studies, N = 24) or right temporal cortex (2 studies, N = 32), with the cathode over the contralateral supraorbital ridge. Single voxel spectroscopy was performed in a 2x2x2cm voxel under the anode in all cases. MRS data were acquired before and either during or after 1 mA tDCS using either a sLASER sequence (7T) or a MEGA-PRESS sequence (3T). sLASER MRS data were analysed using LCModel, and MEGA-PRESS using FID-A and Gannet. E-fields were simulated in a finite element model of the head, based on individual structural MR images, using SimNIBS. Separate linear mixed effects models were run for each E-field variable (mean and 95th percentile; magnitude, and components normal and tangential to grey matter surface, within the MRS voxel). The model included effects of time (pre or post tDCS), E-field, grey matter volume in the MRS voxel, and a 3-way interaction between time, E-field and grey matter volume. Additionally, we ran a permutation analysis using PALM to determine whether E-field anywhere in the brain, not just in the MRS voxel, correlated with GABA change. Results In M1, higher mean E-field magnitude was associated with greater anodal tDCS-induced decreases in GABA (t(24) = 3.24, p = 0.003). Further, the association between mean E-field magnitude and GABA change was moderated by the grey matter volume in the MRS voxel (t(24) = −3.55, p = 0.002). These relationships were consistent across all E-field variables except the mean of the normal component. No significant relationship was found between tDCS-induced GABA decrease and E-field in the temporal voxel. No significant clusters were found in the whole brain analysis. Conclusions Our data suggest that the electric field induced by tDCS within the brain is variable, and is significantly related to anodal tDCS-induced decrease in GABA, a key neurophysiological marker of stimulation. These findings strongly support individualised dosing of tDCS, at least in M1. Further studies examining E-fields in relation to other outcome measures, including behaviour, will help determine the optimal E-fields required for any desired effects

Standing task difficulty related increase in agonist-agonist and agonist-antagonist common inputs are driven by corticospinal and subcortical inputs respectively

In standing, coordinated activation of lower extremity muscles can be simplified by common neural inputs to muscles comprising a functional synergy. We examined the effect of task difficulty on common inputs to agonist-agonist (AG-AG) pairs supporting direction specific reciprocal muscle control and agonist-antagonist (AG-ANT) pairs supporting stiffness control. Since excessive stiffness is energetically costly and limits the flexibility of responses to perturbations, compared to AG-ANT, we expected greater AG-AG common inputs and a larger increase with increasing task difficulty. We used coherence analysis to examine common inputs in three frequency ranges which reflect subcortical/spinal (0-5 and 6-15 Hz) and corticospinal inputs (6-15 and 16-40 Hz). Coherence was indeed higher in AG-AG compared to AG-ANT muscles in all three frequency bands, indicating a predilection for functional synergies supporting reciprocal rather than stiffness control. Coherence increased with increasing task difficulty, only in AG-ANT muscles in the low frequency band (0-5 Hz), reflecting subcortical inputs and only in AG-AG group in the high frequency band (16-40 Hz), reflecting corticospinal inputs. Therefore, common neural inputs to both AG-AG and AG-ANT muscles increase with difficulty but are likely driven by different sources of input to spinal alpha motor neurons